untjim1995

The best G5 school won't get into the college football playoff, but they will get a guaranteed slot in one of the non-playoff BCS Bowl games. Most likely, ECU will play the big XII champion in the Fiesta bowl, just as UCF did last year against Baylor. The playoff will feature, if things hold the way I think they will, FSU, Michigan State, Oregon, and the SEC champ.

Exactly. So what P5 conference is going to take one of those two? No one. They don't offer any other league anything they cannot get closer to home... It sucks to get slotted, doesn't it SWC also-rans?!!

Rice is gonna score a lot--Ill bet in the 60s. We won't score that much...

Norm is saying what I said yesterday in my post. SMU will never be in a power conference again. Pay Mack Brown (or anyone else) whatever you want. It won't change anything for SMU. They are too small. They don't offer anything of major advantages that conferences look for. Even TCU, which got into the Big XII because of necessity, will get left behind, most likely with the Big XII's GOR expires. But even if the big XII doesn't die off, they ain't taking freaking SMU. They already have that market covered. Hell, if they won't take UH, then SMU has no chance. And UH isn't moving up to the Big XII, either. Again, it sounds awesome to pay that kind of money for a coach--maybe it pays off like Larry Brown has for the basketball program. but football and basketball within the NCAA are about as comparable as apples and oranges.

I think it will be somewhere in the 64 to 72 range, that will give 4 conferences 16-18 teams each. If 16 is the number, then the realities of that would mean there are 4 spots available in the Pac, 2 seats available in the B1G, and 2 seats available in the SEC. Its my belief that the ACC is much stronger as an overall league than the Big XII, so they have 2 spots left. That's 10 spots that are available--you could say that makes the Big XII a perfect fit to fill them correct? Not really at all. Notre Dame has their quirky deal with the ACC, which may be BYU's way of doing the same thing out West with the Pac. The PAC won't offer any small private religious-oriented schools into their league, so schools like BYU, Baylor, and TCU are out for conference membership. I still think the Texoma 4 go out west, eventually. WVU goes to the ACC, KU goes to the B1G with UConn. The SEC then goes after a couple of ACC teams (Va Tech and NC State) to get to 16, which leads the ACC to invite in Cincy and UCF or USF to get to 16. The rest of the Big XII gets relegated downward, except for K-State, who somehow finds a place in the p5 world somewhere. And Baylor sues everyone. Then joins the new SWC with the rest of the G5s around here...

Just let them go...they aren't inviting anyone else to the P5 party and they will probably knock out some of their current members down the road when conferences get even more realigned. We missed the boat--hell we didn't even try to get to the dock until very recently and we got a place on a raft. It's just what we decided at the highest levels of how we wanted to fund the entire program. It stinks for all of us who dreamed of playing against the big state schools in the Big XII and the Sec and others, but our leaders and our location made it to where our competition was the SLC, the Big West, the SBC, and now CUSA. We just couldn't beat TCU and SMU for conference placement and we got slotted below them both. It's too bad--I think we could have competed against those schools If we had been given a chance. But no one wanted to give us that chance and our leaders refused to aim higher for A longtime with the program's direction. It's all coming home to roost now.

They could pay him $10 million and they still aren't getting any P5 invite. They can think they are TCU or Baylor, but they blew their chance

Yeah, great Texas HS QBs in spread offenses are just gonna line up to come here with the awesome offensive gameplan!!

Do us a favor--go visit orangebloods.com, texags.com, landthieves.com, killerfrogs.com, or baylorfans.com and see how we compare, then come back and tell us what you think about little ol' gmg.com

Well, we kinda new this was coming. Texas and the rest of the Criminal 5 will get their money from the networks and bowls and conferences so this is a nice pre-emptive strike against anyone complaining about the players. Plus, they, as the richest AD in America, just set the floor on this. They know they can pay more, but they also know that others may not be able to pay more than this. Its probably why they chose this figure, knowing that the Tech's and Iowa State's of the world can still pay it while they play in a P5 league. Our new stadium was always going to be needed, even if we end up being classified at the G5 level and it becomes a quasi-FCS type of classification. Fouts wasn't going to be able to withstand 5 more years of use because of the amount of power that had to be brought in just to get it up and running for a gameday. But that said, I wouldn't want to be the Chacnellor, President, or BOR at this place and have to answer the angry Dentonites who were admaantly opposed to this stadium and its costs. They are going to demand heads roll for $78 million being spent on a football stadium that is housing a team that isn't playing at the highest level, that Fouts could have easily handled this. Its completely wrong, but I know its coming. The DRC is going to have a field day with this, just watch... There is no way we can afford to even pay half of that figure. Maybe not even a quarter of it. It is what it is--as I have said before, I just want those Criminal 5 teams to go away and just play each other. Let the G5 teams and the better FCS teams play real college football for scholarships only. If no one watches us because of this, then we will have to assess what to do next, but one thing is for sure. We will have a lot more company in this state in a new i-aa than we had back in the 90s. UH, SMU, UTEP, UTSA, Texas State, Rice and us will be in the same boat going forward. Right now, the G5 schools, including the service academies, total 63. The FCS probably has about another 30 teams or so that could compete at this level pretty easily, like NDSU, SHSU, Montana, Eastern Washington, Youngstown State, etc.. That is probably where this thing goes from here. The fun part will be seeing if schools like SMU and Tulane will keep playing football or just give it up. Or will schools like Baylor and TCU, should they get the P5 boot when the Big XII finally dies off, just try to BYU it and go independent?

And the slippery slope toward being the official minor league system for the NFL and NBA truly begins... http://www.dallasnews.com/sports/college-sports/headlines/20141021-texas-athletic-director-with-new-rules-longhorns-will-pay-each-player-10000.ece

I think culturally, the biggest problem hasn't been the apathy of the athletic department, its been the apathy of the administration, BOR, faculty, and Denton. The AD can only get done what those above him lets him do or build. Dallas Green's point about the student fee is the one that just floors me about this place. We aren't talking about Texas, Texas A&M, or Texas Tech charging a full athletics fee to it student body and trying to keep up with them and their P5 benefits. We are talking about Texas State, UTSA, and Lamar--an SLC school, an SBC school, and a fellow CUSA school. That, to me, is how you can say fully that the university isn't fully on board with athletics funding. The facilities and hiring of McCarney and his assistants has improved gigantically from where we were just a decade ago, though... I still believe in Coach Mac 100% as the leader of the program--he has more pride for himself and his job than most of us will ever have. And what he has accomplished here already is better than anything his past three predecessors have achieved, just by winning a bowl game within three years of being on the job. He deserved his extension and he deserves time. He will get the coaching situation on his staff fixed at the end of the season, I have no doubt. And I think we will develop into a good-to-great team again in the next few years. But his job would be a helluva lot easier if funding was better to get and keep better coaches on staff--and tha tis where that athletic fee would help greatly. Remember, not only are we not charging anywhere close to what others are charging, the actual fee is tied to Apogee being paid off, so it will sunset. In theory, we could possibly LOSE that athletic-only fee down the road, when others are charging the state-mandated full rate. I will say this again, but the only way you can truly show that athletics is going to be the true window to the university is not just by building new facilities and increasing salaries--both of which are necessary for any program, but the best way to make your current fans and even more, your potential fans, is to fire people when they aren't getting the job done, not when it is just "affordable". If being a teachers college and focusing on fine arts students has helped this apathy to stay here over all these decades, then there really isn't much you can expect from McCarney or anyone else in recruiting. You just have to realize that the current diehard fanbase of 5-10k isn't going to ever elevate too much beyond this point without a commitment to winning. We have a commitment to fielding a program and giving students a game-day experience--the question really is IF that mindset can even change here. It may just be that the true focus on the education of teachers, artists, and musicians may very well be how we continue to advertise the university for decades to come, just as it has for decades past.

You'll note my e-motto below my posts...no need for any royalties

I thought this, too, when I saw that game on last night. I felt sorry for both of those schools, in part, because they are both fairly solid G5 programs and would fit nicely in CUSA, but they will be in the SBC for awhile. Then I though about Texas State, who has basically become us in the SBC--the lone Texas school in a conference full of teams that almost nobody cares about at all. At that point, I thanked the Big East/AAC for taking SMU away and giving us that slot. If we had gotten stuck in the SBC with Arkansas State, Louisiana-Lafayette, Louisiana-Monroe, Troy, New Mexico State, Idaho, Texas State, Georgia Southern, Georgia State, South Alabama, and Appalachian State, I don't know if we could have really even averaged 15k for annual attendance. As much as CUSA is SBC 2.0, it is still light years ahead of that collection just mentioned. Just by playing Rice, UTEP, UTSA, La Tech, Southern Miss, and UAB, we are in the best conference/division setup we have ever been in since the MVC days--if not better.

Ben Gooding thinks Andrew needs to improve on his posts...

It would have to be a brutal, under 10 wins kind of season for Benford to get fired--if that. He has two years left, bare minimum, to turn this around. Here's the scary thought--he has another mediocre season this year, then follows it up in 2016 with another .500 or close to it season. I know he'll have one year on his contract, but you will never see a coach go into his last year of a contract anymore--he'll either get fired or extended. Knowing what we know, I can easily see Benford getting an extension, unless he has a horrible season in the next two years. When you look at the schedule, getting to 10 wins shouldn't be too hard, so if he gets to 15 wins in his 4th year, I'd almost be certain that he will get a two-to-three year extension with that kind of "success" and with RV being his AD. Think about that ridiculousness...

Just remember who brought you that tailgating opportunity.../RV and the BOR

Well, only one had ever been a head coach before he got here at the college level, so I don't think so. Dodge did fairly well in his first full year of recruiting, but those kids he recruited from the rich, suburban schools all bailed out within two years. Maybe "ace" recruiters don't want to coach here in football? To be honest, I don't know who would be an ace recruiter that we could afford or that could actually do a better job of seliing this place than Coach Mac has done. All that he has done to help with freshmen orientation, alumni relations, media interviews, etc...had been nothing but inspirational and positive--until now. He obviously thought that there would be a nice payback for all of his PR moves and the hotbed of recruiting that is in this state. Now, it appears that even that positivity is being crushed by the reality of what the job entails. I will say this--if he leaves or retires anytime soon, we better not go the cheap way out and hire some unknown assistant. That way was so North texas, it wasn't even funny...and it go us nowhere. Basketball has proven the same thing, basically. That will piss me off more than anything else, to see us go cheap after we FINALLY went out and built some nice facilities and have increased coaches pay. We cannot go back to hiring inexperienced, cheap assistants from name-your-college to come here. And high school coaches better never have even an interview ever again...

Dajon may have the talent to be a great QB, but it doesn't matter anymore now. He fell out of grace with McCarney off the field, and now he has fallen out of grace with him on the field. He may play some this year if McNulty gets hurt, but he will never start another game here. I think there 's a very good chance that he isn't even on the roster after this season. Coach McCarney is old-school in every imaginable way. He wants a busdriver first. That will never be DW's strength because he is better in open space. I suspect that our QB next year is either McNulty as a senior QB, where he will be sold as being the next Derek Thompson, or it is someone not on this team. But it won't be Dajon or Greer, both of whom I think will transfer to somewhere else to play. Dajon most definitely can play--IF he finds the right system and the coach for his talents. It is just very apparent that it isn't here, as much as I wish that wasn't the case. I do think you could have a high level QB by this time next year if you can get him to play an offense that fits him--but that offense isn't the one we are throwing out there right now, nor is it the one we have been running here since Mac got here.

I completely agree. Coach Mac has done a very good job here in at least rebuilding us up from the ashes. And it doesn't really matter what any of us think anyway about him, since he just singend a new extension, he ain't going anywhere anytime soon--unless he decieds to leave or his health requires him to leave. He isn't getting bought out by this place, nor, at this point, should that even be up for discussion. Inr eality, the buyout we need to save for is in basketball, but that probably won't happen until after this year because that is when it becomes affordable. If memory serves me, Coach Mac got a five-year extension (I can't remember exactly). If so, he isn't getting bought out anytime until AT Least that 4th year is over, so around 2018 at the earliest. So that doesn't even need to be considered here, knowing the frugality of the school on atheltic expenditures compared to others. Plus, right or worng, he does deserve the opportunity to get this thing built back up from where 2013 ended. He brought more attention to UNT Football in 2013 than we have received by the Metroplex in arguably our history, with the 40k that witnessed our HoD Bowl victory. But the reality is that his recruiting has sucked--just as it pretty well has every year since we moved up to FBS. At some point, you have to ask yourself why recruiting can just be that bad 20 years after you move up to FBS and go through 4 different (in every imagianable way) head coaches. The only commonality amongst all 4 head coaches is they were recruiting to play football here. Simon was recruiuting to come play I-A football and get playing time right away. Dickey was recruiuting--stealthily--to get playing time and that we were finally in a conference setup that we could win in and go to bowls. Dodge was recruiting on his SLC legacy and his offense, as well as plans to build a new stadium. And now Mac has had the oppportunity to recruit on a new stadium, new conference, and a bowl winning season. And yet nothing ever really improves that much on the recruiting front. So, to me, the factor that easily comes to mind is the fact that the reputation here for the last 30 years has been about not caring enough (or at all) about athletics. I don't really see how anything else can really stand out as to why recruiting here just stinks year in and year out.

The state of Mississippi has more players on NFL rosters per capita than all states but Louisiana and South Carolina. They had 32 NFL players on rosters in 2013. Calling that state limited in talent isn't true. USM gets huge advantage in that state by not having any other G5 program to recruit against. Basically, if you are in that state and aren't recruited heavily by the SEC powers around you, USM is almost always going to be the next choice. In Texas, right now, there are 7 G5 schools. If you aren't picked off by a P5 school, then you are going to choose between UH, Rice, UTSA, Texas State, UTEP, SMU, and us if you are staying in state.

No jealousy of most of those listed--just saying they have at least gotten to the same level as we have since they all moved up to I-A around the same time we did. Boise State is still gonna win the MWC. UCF will probably still win the AAC. South Florida has had some really good teams, although they have really fallen back--but they did just announce a home-and-home with Texas, so that is great for them. The others are not really to be envied, but they all have at least experienced the same amount of winning as we have, except for UTSA. But UTSA beat us last year, probably will again, and has the ability to attract OOC teams to San Antonio that we could only dream of. My point is that we have watched several start-ups exceed where we are--or at least get to what we have enjoyed--since 1995. BTW, of those teams listed, we have lost both times we have played UAB since 1995, lost both times we played South Florida, we lost our only game against UTSA, we went 2-8 against Troy, we are 2-5 versus FIU, and 4-6 against FAU. We went 3-3 against Boise State, although only one of those was when they became a big winner. We have never played UCF. That's 11-27 agianst teams that have moved up since 1995 or later and have had simlar success or more in that timeframe.

When an alum can go back to 1971 and say he has seen 15 winning seasons out 43 years, it just makes you question if this is ever going to be a place that can be a consistent winner. Since I got here in 1991, I have seen us have 5 winning seasons (1 as a 1-aa team), while losing seasons total 18 seasons and appears to be going on 19 this season. Of those 18 seasons, we lost 6 games once, 7 games 6 times, 8 games twice, 9 games 6 times, 10 games twice, and 11 games once. Unless we win out, we will add to this total in some fashion. Since we went to Division 1-A in 1995, I have convinced myself that we will actually turn this around and be the next up-and-coming program in college football. Instead, I have watched Boise State, Central Florida, South Florida, Alabama-Birmingham, Troy, Florida Atlantic, Florida International, Middle Tennessee, and Texas-San Antonio either blow pass us or at least make the same progress as we have. Sorry, but I am now of the belief that I just need to enjoy the random winning season that shows up in Denton, like last year, and hold tight to that memory, just as I did in 1994, 2002, and 2003, when we had really good teams that could compete with anyone we played. Winning at sports isn't as important to the university's administration as it is to me. Maybe they are right--maybe the money spent there is really too much and it is better to spend it on other educational areas of the university. But I don't know of any other Texas school that does it this way.

The ignore function is your friend

I'm convinced now, more than ever, that we are never going to be a consistent winner here. Everything was lined up to keep the momentum going from last year's great season, which is now looking like a fluke now. I thought we'd see a big pickup in recruiting and we would see us challenge Texas in our body bag game. I thought we would pound thru the rest of our schedule and finish around 8-4 or better. Instead, we beat the absolute worst FBS and FCS programs in the country and that will be it. We hire an experienced college coach, build a brand new stadium, join a conference with teams that people have actually heard of, and finally turn I a great winning season--only to see us go back to looking like Dodge is coaching us at Fouts against some SBC spare. I'm convinced now, more than ever, that we cannot build a winner here. We will never be the team I dreamed we were gonna be. We are just always going to be that Liberal Arts and Music school that started as a Teachers College. I'm sorry for this negative rant, but I'm just beaten right now. Never imagined we would get clubbed at home by USM this year. Rice is going to prison rape us next week--they will duplicate the last visit we had to their stadium.